I am not sure how much I paid for a rent - $700 according to my cancelled check, or $710, which is a net rent of $710 (minus $10 credit), as per LL's bill. The judge may have two sets of figures. In other words, if LL owes me money as per MCI, that credit should count as part of my rent.

This is still confusing so we can't really answer the question. But in general, if your check says you paid $700, then that is what you paid.

With MCI's there are two components ... the retroactve (temporary) portion and the prospective portion. The prospective amount gets folded into the legal rent. The retroactive MCI amounts is for the time between when the LL applied for the MCI and when DHCR granted the MCI. It's for a defined and limited time, then it gets taken off the bill once it's been paid.

For example, if the MCI increased the rent by $20 and it took DHCR 24 months to make the decision, then the retroactive portion is $480. The LL can collect the $480 as a temporary surcharge until it's paid off, then it comes off the bill. There is another $20 that gets added to the base rent and that stays on forever. That is the prospective part.

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